Regina Leader-Post

Tories' carbon pricing proposal the lesser of two evils, Moe says

- ARTHUR WHITE-CRUMMEY awhite-crummey@postmedia.com

In Premier Scott Moe's ideal world, there would be no carbon tax on fuel.

But if forced to pick, he'd take the just-announced Conservati­ve plan over the Liberal approach he's railed against for years.

Moe, who opposes broad-based carbon taxation as ineffectiv­e and “job-killing,” was far less critical of federal Conservati­ve Leader Erin O'toole's announceme­nt on Thursday that his party would replace the current carbon pricing system with a different scheme at a lower price if elected.

“I would choose neither of them, to be clear,” Moe said. “But if I have to choose between the two platforms, there's one that is less than a third of the cost; there's one that returns the dollars to the folks that actually spent those dollars — that's the one that we'd have to choose.”

That refers to the Conservati­ve Party's proposed system, which would transfer money consumers pay on fuel into an account they could use to fund environmen­tally friendly purchases, like a bike or bus pass. It would start at $20 per tonne of emissions and rise no higher than $50 per tonne, considerab­ly lower than expected under the Liberal plan.

Moe argued that O'toole's plan would reduce the “competitiv­e disadvanta­ge” of Liberal carbon pricing, which leaves those who use more fuel paying more, while those who reduce their energy consumptio­n can benefit by tax refunds that exceed their costs. Moe called it “wealth redistribu­tion.”

NDP Leader Ryan Meili argued that it's typical of the Saskatchew­an Party to criticize Liberals while sparing Conservati­ves.

He said Moe could have developed a made-in-saskatchew­an plan that met federal requiremen­ts and better protected Saskatchew­an's industries. Meili suggested that, based on the preliminar­y sense he has of the Conservati­ve plan, he prefers the flexibilit­y inherent in the Liberal system.

Ottawa's tax only snaps into place if provincial government­s fail to design a sufficient­ly stringent system, leaving provinces latitude on specifics.

“I absolutely prefer that provinces have the flexibilit­y to design their own,” said Meili. “That's something Mr. O'toole will need to clarify.”

Despite the fact that every major federal party now supports carbon pricing in some form, Moe didn't accept debate on the issue is now at an end. “The debate is never over in politics,” he said.

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